On September 28, Varela entered Toledo, having cleared the Alcazar the day before. On October 1, an important event - this one of a political nature - consecrated Franco's fortune. Already, he was acclaimed “generalissimo”. The predestination that his faithful grant him found in the facts a singular condemnation. Calvo Sotelo was assassinated, J. Antonio Primo de Rivera was a Republican prisoner, Goded was shot and Sanjurjo — who could have been the leader of Spain — was killed in an accident notice There are more person enters the power Franco. The junta of Burgos named him "supreme head of the Spanish government". Three months have not passed since he carried the war on the national territory that he is already hoisted on the bulwark. Thus he began, in the uncertainty of the future and at the dawn of the ages fell one of the longest careers that the European head of state had known.
The taking of Toledo by nationalizing them opens the road to Madrid to them. Two col. nes, comprising 20,000 men and commanded by Varela and Yagüe, converges:towards the capital. On October 17, the Nationalist vanguards were 35 from Madrid. On November 5, they are in the suburbs, in Alcorcon and Leganes, terminus of urban trams. The next day, the government of Largo Caballero loads its archives into trucks and leaves Madrid for Valencia, having transferred its powers to General José Miaja Menant, military commander of the city. On November 7, Varela launched the offensive.
Surrounded on three sides, abandoned by his government, plagued by political divisions, the fall of Madrid seemed inevitable. Nationalists make it a matter of hours. Three attacks are launched simultaneously. The first, coming from the west, is stopped at the University City, after a fierce battle:we will fight hand to hand for the possession of a floor, while the artillery and the aviation will drop tons of bombs on the belligerents. The imprecations of the German soldiers will echo the oaths of the French volunteers.
But the battle cry of the Republic in danger will be taken up by all:No pasarân! (They will not pass). Thus will begin the “battle for Madrid” of which the Republicans will win the first phase. Admittedly, and already, foreign support will play its part in this hard battle:on the one hand, German and Italian planes and tanks; on the other, Russian tanks and aircraft, as well as international contingents. But the resistance of Madrid will be above all the fact of the population, constantly stimulated by the ardor of the militiamen. Like Agustina at the siege of Zaragoza, one hundred and thirty years earlier, the "Pasionaria" will exhort the combatants. Men, women and children will dig trenches, raise barricades and will not hesitate to fire the shots. On November 23, the positions are stabilized. Exhausted, the adversaries regroup for new assaults. Madrid is not taken, but the enemy remains at its gates.
Feldwebel (Warrant Officer) Adolf Dilg was a pilot in III./ZG 2 in 1942, and his group was the first in the Luftwaffe to be fully equipped with Fw 190A-4 fighter-bombers. Adolf Dilg recounts here his experiences as a fighter-bomber pilot in France and North Africa.Wounded shortly before the capitula